the details
Location: Passyunk Square: 1401 S. 12th St. Philadelphia, PA 19147
Food Type: Vegan Dishes, Comfort-Food, Breakfast & Lunch, Brunch, Coffee
Restaurant Type: Order at Counter/Sit-Down, To-Go, Solo-Dining, Diner
Price Range: $2-$16
the review
There's a funny story about how I discovered this place. I found it just by pure accident. On the weekends, I like to spend my mornings just walking around town, grabbing a coffee and heading to a main street to browse the different boutique shops. As I was doing this one Saturday morning, I stumbled across a storefront on the corner of a side street that had a chalkboard sign in front of it.
The sign had written on it, Porkroll Egg and Cheese on an Everything Muffin, Fries and an Iced Coffee - $10. With being from Jersey, and having a love for breakfast sandwiches from local diners and sandwich shops, I decided to stop in for the great deal.
When I stepped into the place, and took a look around at the interior, it reminded me a lot of an old fashioned diner: Tiled floors that had a checkered pattern, a counter top with swiveling leather barstools, and behind the counter, a full grill, sizzling with tasty looking food.
The menu was also curated to deliver those homey meals at breakfast and lunch, such as omelettes, breakfast burritos (pictured above), pancakes, cheesesteaks, burgers and sandwiches. They even had a specials board as well, which sometimes offer dishes like Tofu Benedict (pictured below).
Although the whole menu looked delicious, I decided to stick with the special that was advertised on the chalkboard for my order. Once I placed my order at the counter, I sat down and sipped on some of the iced coffee. It was a delicious blend that was light and vibrant. The best part about it is that if you love the coffee and want to make your own batch at home, you can! They offer reusable Tasty-branded tin coffee cans that they can fill with fresh, ground coffee.
My food was finally ready once they called out my name to come and pick up at the counter. I took my first bite and my first thought was that this was the most unique porkroll, egg and cheese I've ever tasted based on the texture of the egg. After a couple of more bites, I realized that it wasn't a normal porkroll, egg and cheese, it was a tofu "egg" patty, plant-based deli meat and cheese that I was eating. I then looked up some more info on the restaurant on my phone and I realized that the place made completely vegan versions of classic diner dishes. I was impressed at how delicious the sandwich tasted, and finding out that the meal was fully plant-based made me enjoy the food even more.
The tofu "egg" patty was so perfectly seasoned, and still held it's form as a patty, which is really stunning considering that the tofu was scrambled. The deli meat had the same consistency and flavors of a normal slice of porkroll. The cheese was so melty and warm, and reminded me of an appetizing grilled cheese sandwich as it stuck to the toasted, buttery everything muffin.
My experience of discovering The Tasty, and it's vegan diner fare, makes me think about how we should not be afraid to go out and explore new places and try new things. We should embrace uniqueness because we never know when it can create pleasant surprises for ourselves.
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